Monster Dash Results and Upcoming 5K

My surprisingly fast 5K time wasn’t the only big surprise of last Sunday. It turns out I actually placed 13th overall out of 250 runners! OK, so it WAS a “Monster Dash” so the best-of-the-best stayed home. And there were a lot of costumes that were less than conducive to running in. But shut up, I think I did pretty swell. Stop trying to steal my thunder.

Also, as I’ve been hearing other bloggers discuss, the chip timing did nothing at the start. It was all from the shot of the gun. So my watch said 19:28 when I finished, although my official chip time was 20:23. It took me nearly a minute to get across the starting line because I was three-quarters of the way back. Had I been up at the start and ran the same time, I could have placed 6th! I swear to God that all the fast people stayed home. Anyway, it was a blast.

Now that I’m excited about 5Ks, I’m planning on hitting a few more this year (not with the tighty-whities on the outside like at the Monster Dash). I’m planning on running a 5K on Saturday morning at Fort Snelling in St. Paul. It’s put on by the same people that did this past weekend’s 5K and Half Marathon. If you’re a Minnesotan and have nothing to do this Saturday, go here to get more info: http://www.tesfa.org/events.htm (you can register the morning of)

I’m shooting for under 19 minutes this weekend. I don’t know if that’s possible right now, but it’s worth a shot. To make that happen, the course needs to have every mile marked so I can check my progress. I hope to pace myself as follows:

Mile 1: 6:15
Mile 2: 6:10
Mile 3: 6:00
Last Tenth: 0:35

If I can stick near those times, I’ll be right at 19 minutes. Here’s to hoping! I think I’ll be bringing Steph (who ran the half-mary this last weekend) and a friend of hers. Pharmie might be there, but she’s not much on the short runs. Let me know if I’ll see you there!!

On a similar note (sort of), allow to present this following image for your review. I call it “Three Members Of Our Household, Three Dead Toes.”

The painted toes on the upper left are Pharmies. Her big toe has been dead since the TC Marathon 3.5 weeks ago. The new nail is growing out under the dead one, and the dead one has been trimmed back. The toes on the upper right are Stephs, and it’s obvious that her big toe has seen better days. Again, this spawned from TC. And on the lower part of the image is my foot. That second toe is the same one that turned purple in late July after a brick workout. I was afraid that I was going to lose it before Ironman. But the little bastard is still holding on for dear life. Yep, our house has gross feet. At least we’re all fit.